Abu Qatada, the extremist preacher, could be back on the streets of Britain
within weeks.

The man described as “Osama Bin Laden’s right-hand man in Europe” has been granted a bail hearing in 10 days’ time as he continues to fight deportation to Jordan.

And if a judge decides that the process is likely to drag on for many more months then he may decide to allow the terror suspect to return to his London home, albeit under virtual house arrest.

It would be a fresh blow for Theresa May, the Home Secretary, whose most recent attempt to kick Abu Qatada out of the country ended in embarrassment when it transpired that she had got the date wrong for his appeal deadline.

The Home Office said: “We believe Qatada poses a real risk to national security and will continue vigorously to resist any application for him to be bailed.”

The Islamist cleric has spent much of the past decade either in jail or under house arrest without being charged with any crime, having been rounded up in the wake of 9/11.

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He was freed on bail earlier this year after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that he could not be returned to Jordan, where he faces retrial over a terror plot, in case evidence obtained through torture is used against him.

Abu Qatada was re-arrested in April after the Home Office thought his chance to appeal against the Strasbourg judgment on separate grounds had passed, and was brought before the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) in central London that same day so a fresh deportation attempt could begin.

The Government argues that it is safe to remove him because of assurances obtained from the Jordanian authorities.

That move was put on hold when his lawyers lodged a last-minute application with the ECHR, however, triggering the fiasco over the deadline date, but a panel of judges dismissed his appeal claim last week.

Now the focus is back on Siac and it has been announced that a bail application hearing for the terror suspect, under his birth name of Mohammed Othman, will be held at 2pm on May 28th. He is currently being held in a high-security prison.

In a written judgment following his last appearance there, Mr Justice Mitting signalled he may grant bail if deportation remains a long way off. If the Home Secretary issues a certificate saying the deportation order should not be revoked, Abu Qatada’s legal team is likely to request a judicial review.

The judge concluded: “If it is obvious after two or three weeks have elapsed that deportation is not imminent either because the Secretary of State has not certified or because, having done so, a having certificate is struck down by the Divisional Court, then I will reconsider basis of a more leisurely timetable than that necessarily required for a full-appeal to SIAC.”

Recent figures showed that almost £1million in legal fees has been spent on attempts by the Government to remove Abu Qatada from Britain, not including Legal Aid and the cost of his incarceration.

Meanwhile another long-running human rights battle involving the Government will begin again next week when the highest court in Strasbourg, the Grand Chamber, makes its ruling in another prisoner voting case.

After the judgment is passed on Tuesday in the Italian case, known as Scoppola, British ministers will have six months to implement an earlier ruling that some convicts should be allowed to take part in elections.